Has anyone installed motion detectors to control their shop lighting? I'm thinking it would be handy if I could find one that would blink the lights or warn me in some other manner that I am about to be plunged into darkness. I find that all too often I leave with may hands full, don't get back to turn off the lights, and find them on later that day or the next.
RB
Funny, I was thinking of just the opposite. I'd like to put one light on a motion sensor so when I'm carrying stuff INTO the shop with my hands full a light would come on. I'm a little confused about your question though. What do you mean you want to be warned that you are about to be plunged into darkness? You lights are going off without you wanting them to?
Wow.
UA100
I just replaced one switch with a motion sensor switch. It stays on for about 15 minutes. Got it at Lowes, although I wish there was more adjustability (ie 5 minutes.)
I have over a dozen motion sensors around my house so there is light wherever you go. There are 2 basic types. "Motion" sensors trip once and run for the specified time. "occupancy" sensors retrigger every time the eye sees motion so if it "sees" you at least once in the time period it will stay lit. I consciously made the lights controlled on the occupancy sensor in my shop not suitable as work lights, ( a couple 60w bulbs) they just get me around. That way I am not tempted to start a machine with out turning on the "real" lights.
Fluorescent lighting is cheap. I don't think I'd want the main lighting to be controlled by a motion sensor. Can you imagine being in the middle of a cut when the lights went out, just because you didn't move quick enough to excite the sensor?
That's precisely why I'd like the device to give me some sort of warning before the lights turn off.
RB
Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:
You could remember to shut the lights off before you leave. I know it's hard but I'm sure you could learn.
My garage is 24 feet deep, then the shop starts and goes another 32 feet. I get to the man door in the garage and notice I left a light on and golly, I have to walk all the way back and shut it off.
I had considered putting in motion detecting lights but figured I wouldn't want them shutting off mid operation. Plus, I figured I wasn't that much of a lazy twit.
Get the drift?
I've got a motion detector over my small entry door. Inside, just switches. They're set inside the entry door (cannot enter from the 8' wide doors, nor can you lock the shop from those doors). If I go out and leave them on, I've got a memory problem. It happens. I used to look out and see them on at 4 a.m. as I was making my coffee. But it's not a frequent thing, so isn't a problem. Easiest recourse is to set the shop up so it can only be locked from a single door, place switches at that door, and forget it. I can leave all my lights on (16 4' dual fluorescents, 9 150 watt incandescents, some task lights) and I doubt it costs half a buck for the night.
Charlie Self "Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching." Satchel Paige
this is the thing that will lead to a much shorter life for the bulb.
Ed Angell
A possible solution -- at least to the 'lights on all night' part of the problem -- it to put the lights on a 'multiple trip' clock-timer. One that has the *removable* pins for turning things on/off. put in _only_ some 'off' pins. Use a pair of timers, with the 2nd one running a little 'fast', and having an 'on' tripper at in the same slot that the first has 'off' ones, and the 'warning light' will come on "a little bit" before the lights will go out.
If you're *always* out of the shop at 'predictable' hours -- like lunch and/or dinner, you can kick things 'off' at those times, as well as 'end of the evening'.
You might be surprised. 32 fluorescent bulbs is 1360-1600 watts (assuming
80% efficient ballasts and either 'energy saver' 34 watt lamps or regular 40 watt ones) plus 1350 watts for the incandescent. plus the task-lights. 3kw/hr looks like a reasonable estimate. Thats 24 kw-hr for an 8 hour 'nite'. To get out for under 'half a buck', you'd have to be paying about 2 cents per kw-hr. TEN cents a kw-hr is a typical number for rough cost estimating. In Greater Chicago, my cost runs around 9.5 cents, _before_taxes_, last time I checked. (There are substantial rate discounts available, if you have 'big use' items, like electric heat, or electric water-heater.)HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.